New report by gun control advocates shows 25 states, including Texas, failed at enacting new laws

Nearly a year after a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., left nearly 30 people dead, gun control advocates are praising states who have enacted gun control laws and calling 2013 a watershed year for preventing gun violence.

People march for gun control in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo)

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence released their joint 2013 state gun law scorecard Monday, which showed 21 states created new or expanded existing gun laws to regulate ammunition, sales and other aspects of gun ownership.

“Looking at this report card and the last year…one thing becomes vividly clear, that many states have listened to the will of the American people,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, in a conference call Monday.

The report ranks California as the highest-ranked state, earning an A-. Twenty-five states, including Texas, failed the ranking, earning Fs.

According to Laura Cutilletta, senior staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, five states closed the loophole that doesn’t require private sales to undergo background checks; four states enacted laws requiring the report of lost or stolen guns; four states strengthened regulations on assault weapons; and three states passed laws to more closely regulate ammunition transactions.

Cutilletta called this trend “quite amazing” when considering the laws that weakened gun regulations, while numerous, were not as broad as the laws that strengthened them.

The Brady Campaign has supported an expansion of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which turned 20 years old last month, to extend gun regulations federally. But a bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey to extend background checks failed to pass in April.

Gross said despite the recent failures of a federal overhaul of gun safety and regulation, states have made “unthinkable progress.” But he said despite the outpouring of public support for gun control after the Sandy Hook shooting, a comprehensive gun law is not going to be the result of a single tragedy but of sustained support from states and individuals.

Cutilletta added many of the states that passed laws in the past year were farther behind in their gun laws than the states with already existing laws, which indicated a growing trend of “momentum” in the coming months.